Folkestone Invicta 1-0 Kingstonian

Kingstonian finally suffered their first defeat of the season, losing a game of few chances 1-0 at Folkestone Invicta to curtail a streak of four consecutive victories.

Alan Dowson lamented after the game that his forwards had missed numerous chances, yet only two of them were clear-cut - early misses for Bobby Traynor and Adam Thompson. Thereafter Ks, playing a defensive 4-5-1 formation, struggled to create chances and were defeated when Robbie Kember beat Rob Tolfrey from long range.

Kember's first impact on the game had been a reckless two-footed tackle on Tom Bird, which would eventually cause the Ks left-back to brought off injured early in the second half. He escaped with a mere yellow card, however, with referee Mr Butler perhaps not wanting to spoil the game by sending a player off in the fifth minute.

By this point, Tolfrey had already done well to keep the scores level, denying first Simon Austin and then Paul Jones on the rebound. Ks recovered well from the foul on Bird though to enjoy the sole five minutes of the match in which they looked like scoring.

First, Dean Lodge did well to get a cross in but Adam Thompson was unable to reach it to head home. Next, Lodge did well to play Bobby Traynor in on goal but from close range, albeit a tight angle, the striker hit the post with the outside of the boot. Thompson then skewed badly wide from around the penalty spot after good work by Matt Gray and Lodge poked a pot-shot the wrong side of the upright.

Ks failed to sustain the pressure though, as the three defenders in central midfield could not provide enough attacking support to Traynor, Lodge and Gray. It was Invicta who had the best chances of the remainder of the half, with Kember firing narrowly over and Ks doing well to scramble a corner away to safety.

The second half did not continue in any livelier a fashion, with saved efforts from Lodge and Austin being the only incidents of note in the first fifteen minutes. Kember struck on the hour mark, beating Tolfrey from all of thirty yards, with a superb effort right inside the corner. With both sides struggling to get in behind the other's defence, it was perhaps inevitable that any goal would come from this distance.

Ks never looked like equalising, a weak glancing header from Carl Wilson-Denis that was easily saved and Sam Clayton volleying wide were the best chances, interspersed by another excellent save by Tolfrey when the home side should have wrapped the game up. Overall Ks looked uncreative though and could have few complaints about a disappointing result.